First off, how are you and your family doing during this crazy time? Keeping busy?
My husband, Jim turned our third floor into his office and has worked from home since early March. He also created a music studio there and has continued to take his weekly voice lessons via a remote link with his teacher. Our daughter, Shelby, finished her first year of college from home. While we understand that life in the dorm is more fun, we have loved having her back at home. We have cooked, cleaned and organized like everyone else. I call my parents almost every day. I’ve read a lot and have connected with friends by text, phone, e-mail and social media. I watch a lot of dance. We had a socially distant Mother’s Day celebration with my cousins on our driveway. We celebrated Shelby’s 19th birthday via Zoom. We’ve had family movie nights. Shelby even projected a movie on the garage door one night. We take evening walks. And I embraced my long-time love of caftans and have worn a different caftan from my collection almost every day since early March. As a fun way to entertain myself and to gently encourage people to stay safely at home, I posted on social media a photo of myself in a different caftan for 36 consecutive days. To my surprise, my diversion developed quite a following. At the expiration of the first stay at home order, I even conducted a poll to determine a fan favorite!
Houston Ballet has encountered some incredible challenges over the past few years – Hurricane Harvey, the reconstruction of the theater district after flood and now this pandemic – what keeps the organization strong during these trials? How does Houston Ballet stay resilient and looking ahead?
Houston Ballet is made up of creative problem solvers. In fact, our organization came roaring back from Hurricane Harvey because creative problem-solvers, like Executive Director Jim Nelson and Artistic Director Stanton Welch, arranged for alternate performance and rehearsal spaces before the flood water even receded. Stanton also reworked pieces and created new works to fit the alternate performance spaces. The production team reworked or created new sets to fit the alternate spaces and created dressing rooms where none existed out of semi-trailers. The administrative staff re-ticketed and cared for patrons. The facilities and chaperone teams took care of our resident students and kept their worried families (who were located all across the globe) informed of their children’s well-being. HB also instituted repairs, remediation and preventative measures to the building. Our Development team sought Hurricane Harvey-related relief funding. Our CFO managed our insurance claim in a very professional way.
Apparently, our creative, strategic-thinking staff was just warming up with the Harvey response. I’m sorry they’ve had to use their battle-hardened crisis management skills again so soon after Harvey – but look what they’ve done in response to COVID-19! The staff, dancers and orchestra have created clever, hilarious, gorgeous on-line content for the general public and other material just for our patrons. They’ve created quality online classes for the company and the academy. You can have brunch and tea with HB. Stanton is doing Zoom choreography. The costume shop is making masks. Our CFO is working on completely new financial models. Development is seeking new COVID-19-related emergency funding. In short, everyone is pulling together as a team.
And, of course, there is no way the organization would be able to rebound from these massive challenges without the incredible support of the community. Each time Houston Ballet faces adversity, so many people step up to support the organization. The Houston Ballet family is strong. The arts matter to Houston, and ballet matters to Houston. The community always lets its appreciation of the arts shine through.
Houston Ballet is, by nature, a creative hub. I am never surprised to see the artists and employees adapt and change, but it always inspires me.
It’s a time when a lot of us feel powerless to help. So, what can the public do to support Houston Ballet right now?
There is so much people can do to help right now. If you are in a position to make a financial contribution to Houston Ballet, please do! If you have tickets from this season that you can donate back, that is helpful. Subscribing for next season is also an investment into the immediate future of the organization and will help the company get back on stage again! Times are really tough right now, so even if you are unable to make a financial contribution, you can help by sharing Houston Ballet’s digital content with your friends and family. The dancers, musicians and staff have put so much time into creating fun and wonderful videos and clips on Instagram and Facebook. Please visit Houston Ballet digitally!
Which ballet are you most excited to see Houston Ballet bring to the stage next season?
Oh! I can’t pick just one! Of course, I’m eager to see La Bayadere. It is such a classic. It is so exciting to see great dancers take on this difficult piece. And I can’t wait to see Mayerling again. It is a piece that you don’t see in the US and it highlights the acting skill of our company as well as the dancing skill of the company. As for contemporary work, I’m looking forward to Justin Peck’s new piece, Billy Forsythe’s new work and Melody Mennite’s new ballet. And, I’m a long-time fan of Christopher Bruce’s choreography, so I always look forward to Rooster. And, of course, I love Stanton’s Divergence and am so happy that it is on the schedule for next season. I also hope we’ll be able to see Trey McIntyre’s new piece, since its world premiere had to be cancelled because of COVID-19.
By Alexandra Di Nunzio